Freddy 'Sez' Schuman, a Yankee Stadium staple for last 20 years, dead at age 85

Freddy 'Sez' - a Yankee Stadium icon for 20 years - is dead at age 85, according to a friend. (Bello/Getty)

Yankee Stadium fixture Freddy (The Fan) Schuman, who banged his trusty metal frying pan to rally Bombers fans for over two decades, has died.

The 85-year-old superbooster died Sunday afternoon at an undisclosed Manhattan hospital after suffering a heart attack Friday, said longtime friend Chuck Frantz, president of the Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club.

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"Freddy was a true Yankee legend and a No. 1 fan [who] will be missed," Frantz said.

Frantz said he collapsed Friday at a senior center where he lived.

He was a staple at the old and new stadiums since 1988, greeting fans at the turnstiles by banging on a frying pan that was painted with a shamrock and toting a colorful sign that usually began with the words "Freddy Sez ..."

Schuman was the same age as the old Stadium when it was torn down. His death comes in the same season the Yanks lost owner George Steinbrenner and beloved announcer Bob Sheppard.

"It's going to be very strange without him, without hearing Freddy and his pans," Lewis said. "He wasn't a Creature, but we respected him out in the bleachers. I wish he'd lived to see what I hope is one more great postseason."

Schuman was such a Bombers icon that one of his pans is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and another is in the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center in Montclair, N.J.